Newcomers top Saturday’s Yoakum council seats

The City of Yoakum’s City Council race had residents favoring an out-with-the-old, inwith-someone-new May 4.

According to unofficial election returns posted by the city Saturday, the total turnout was 374 voters, minus 77 votes, the most either challenged incumbent secured, counting both early voting and election day voters.

For the Yoakum community that has 5,879 people as its population, as the latest census figures would suggest, it was not a supportive turnout at the polls, with fewer than 7% of the total citizenry turning out to vote, and less than 1.5% of the populace supporting the two seated council members in the race.

Saturday’s unofficial election returns showed newcomer Daniel Driskell topping the threeway race for the unexpired Place 2 seat on the council with 165 votes (58 early votes, and 107 on election day), Jay Cassell finishing in second with 147 votes (65 early-82 election day votes) and Glenn Klander, the seated incumbent and council-elected mayor pro-tem, claiming 36 votes (22 early-14 election day votes).

Newcomer Mitchell Franz received the most votes in Place 4’s three-way contested race, collecting 166 total votes (74 early-92 election day votes), unofficial results showed, with Vanita L. Cheeves collecting 102 votes (54 early-48 election day votes) and incumbent John S. Pelech securing 77 votes (38 early-39 election day votes).

Michael Brandt, the lone candidate running unopposed for the Place 5 seat on the council, collected 25 total votes.

374 voters who cast ballots in the Yoakum City Council race, 166 voted early and 208 voted on election day, unofficial election returns showed.

Those numbers will not become official until they are approved by members of the current City Council and entered into the city record, which is not anticipated until the City Council meets for its next regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14 at City Hall.